The theme for this review bundle is ‘summer’. ‘Cuttlebone’ (trip to the beach to gather pet food), ‘Summer House’ (a tale involving alcohol and murder), ‘Sophie’ (holidays and bad endings) and ‘The Dandelion Girl’ (the girl from the future) all feature.

Inami: This way we get to go to the beach and also get free cuttlebone. Win-win.

Time to talk about instant bad end choices. Sophie featured a number of choices. They were as simple as, for example, choosing to go to the supermarket or not. However, the outcomes are absurd. In one instance, saying something slightly different to one character caused a completely unknown man to appear and stab the protagonist to death. If these bad ends are to be included, it must be obvious as to why a certain choice led to the end. Warnings and hints should also be presented in the preceeding story to guide towards the correct decision. Most of the time, it is not even worth including an alternative ending if they are not of a reasonable length; the choice point can just be made to progress as a natural part of the story.

Returning to my reviews after a two-year absence and with the recent review of ‘The Way We ALL GO’, the theme of this bundle is ‘looking back at the work of developers I reviewed previously’. We have ‘The Lockdown of Shinsou Elementary’ (scary school happenings), ‘Of Valkyries and Life’ (girls with wings, in different places and different eras), Yanderella (love triangles and killer cuddly rabbits) and Crimson Rafflesia (Hanachirasu with superpower children).

Key Positive Points: Some good character work, some promising plot, secret content

Key Negative Points: Too many plot points copied from Hanachirasu

By chance, I happen to have picked two visual novels which are somewhat similar to Nitroplus works. Playing Crimson Rafflesia, almost every event that happens before the opening is copied from Hanachirasu; some effort is made to develop the following plot differently but there are still too many connections. Yanderella has some links to Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi. but these are more subtle; the story is developed differently and it may merely be due to similar themes. Basing work on other visual novels is fine but at least some changes are needed, lest it seem as though ideas are being directly replicated. With a few tweaks, Crimson Rafflesia could become independent enough for the final release.

Time for some RPG style visual novels. In this bundle we have ‘Dear Mariko’ (murderous stalkers are around), ‘Kimi to Boku to Kireigoto’ (a cycle of betrayal) and ‘Paper Cranes’ (the prison of the mind).

It’s because of that woman. She’s been following me around for a while now.

These visual novels all start with a good, clear idea. However, they do not explore these ideas enough. If time was taken to build up and extend the story, the outcome would be worthy to read. Unfortunately, they stop short of the required quantity.